Who Made Who?
by xXMethereaperXx
Summary: With the "successful" destruction of the war cruiser, Sheldon returns, intent on giving up his inventing. But the discovery of the XJ-10 Blackbird files piques his interest, bringing on a final project with the help of the BadLads. Can the Blackbird live up to it's design as successor to XJ-9, or will it be the scourge of all living things? To Sheldon, this android is so much more.
1. (1) Always The Moon

Alright, here the "sequel" to, Nobody Loves You Like Me. If you haven't read it prior to this, it's worth giving it a glance to understand this one.

Sheldon is going to be almost completely OC and will have a notable difference between the canon in this chapter.

Let's get started.

03/04/14: A few grammar corrections, and added title for Part 1.

* * *

**Who Made Who?**

**Part 1: The Death Of What Used To Be**

**Chapter 1: Always The Moon**

"_Before there ever was a you and me,  
__The endless void of a dark, black sea  
__And a giant oyster, the mother of all things_

_And the oyster made a pearl  
__And the pearl became the world  
__And the world began to turn  
__And the sun began to burn_

_And then one day I met you and then fell in love  
__And you broke my tender heart  
__And so here we are_

_But there was always the moon  
__There was always the moon  
__There was always the moon  
__There was always the moon"_

- Jonathan Coulton

**[][][]**

The scratching of the pen proved strong enough to further his headache, causing it to fluctuate between nuisance and full blown migraine.

"Inspection shows an accumulative damage in the area of 94%, as shown by the attached paperwork," he mumbled as he filled out the form he'd printed.

Pausing to sigh and rub his tired eyes, Sheldon continued, "Main control board, 49% damaged. Thrusters, 77% damaged. Exterior shell and all limbs, 54% damaged. Will require an estimated fifty hours of labor to repair. Course of action…"

He looked across the clean and organized garage to where the Silver Shell stood among the lawnmowers and yard tools, a smile frozen on it's face despite the battered and twisted remains of it's body.

"Immediate decommission, salvaging all useable resources for parts."

Adding the papers into a file, he stacked it onto the large pile with the other decommissioned inventions in the XJ class of upgrades designed to lessen the weaknesses of XJ-9. It seemed a waste to destroy them, but Jenny made it clear that she had no interest in taking them.

"Next on the list," he said as he grabbed the military surplus bag from the workbench.

Opening the flaps, he removed the gas mask along with the filters and set the bag aside. Slipping on the mask, he attached the filters and carried his bloody and possibly contaminated clothes to his forge. Accustomed to the burst of heat, he opened the grate and tossed his clothes in, taking a moment to run his hands over the fabric of his favorite jacket one last time. He watched them crackle and smolder before he closed the grate.

The clock on the wall did nothing to ease his fevered mind, but only reminded him of all the work he had left to do.

_'Now I have to clean out the workshop, which means I'll need to clear a path for the truck since I can't take the Shell,'_ he thought, skimming the list he had mentally created,_ 'Then I need to go to the mall and get a new jacket. I'll do that around three-thirty.'_

He picked up the military bag and walked to the shelf of lawn care tools his dad hung years ago. Returning the mask to the bag, he hung it beside the pruning shears and carefully removed the chainsaw.

Checking the oil and fuel, he walked toward the door leading to the back yard, stopping to glance at the laser pen on top of the pile of gadgets, remembering how easily it cuts through even the toughest of metals.

Looking to the chainsaw in his hand, he sadly focuses on the ground and steps outside.

**[][][]**

Mrs. Wakeman was already impressed.

She began reviewing the data Sheldon retrieved from the Ganymedian ship while the machines worked on repairing Jenny, and ten minutes in proved that she would be busy for the next month, at least.

Weapons logs, battle tactics, training manuals, current experiments, almost the entire collected knowledge of their empire. Available to her with only a few strokes of her keyboard.

Before she could continue, the screen went black and became unresponsive.

"What now?"

No matter the combination she attempted, they all received the same result. Nothing.

Suddenly, a new window opened and filled with the image of a man sitting behind a desk in an oddly shaped chair. His face appeared to be that of a hardened, middle aged man. His head wore black and shaggy hair, complete with a thick beard and several scars about his face.

"Hello, Nora."

Folding her arms, she leaned back, "Dr. Wakeman will do, Mr. Hughes."

"Oh come on," he said, stretching his arms out while letting the corners of his mouth curl into a smile, "After everything we've been through, it's still Dr. Wakemen?"

"Yes, it is."

Sighing, he leaned forward and wove his fingers together, "I assume you know the reason I'm contacting you."

"Maybe it's something to do with the ship we've destroyed," she answered sternly, "Or maybe, is it the fact I know you had the FEV container on an W-Class ship?"

"Those are both among the list," he said, glancing at a monitor to the side of him.

He looked back, his tone becoming softer and more sincere, "How's our daughter?"

She sighed, "Now she's _our _daughter?"

"Yes, Nora, she is," he said, his voice losing it's previous tone and becoming hoarse, "Do you think the military would have given you everything you needed to make her?"

He could see she felt the sting of his words and he shook his head, "Excuse me, I've done a lot of yelling today."

Holding his hand over an area of his desk caused the surface to fold away, allowing the cold air below to rise as steam. A platform within began to rise, lifting a container into his hand. Taking a large gulp of it's contents seemed to alleviate the burn in his throat.

Sighing out of relief, he returned the container to the device and it lowered back into the compartment.

"I'm sorry, where were we?"

"Our daughter," she said after a pause, "Is severely damaged, but will be fine after some repairs."

He nodded, "Good. It was painful to watch her be attacked and know there was nothing I could do about it."

Growing irritated, Nora shook her head, "What was the FEV doing on that ship?"

"We had it contained on a war ship for the extra security it possessed. It was on route to the sun to destroy the container. The ship encountered a severe systems failure near Mars, allowing the experiment to be released. Shortly after it broke into the armory and retrieved Project-62, a prototype gauss rifle."

"So that's why the ship couldn't respond," Nora said.

"I'm afraid so," he said, looking again at the monitor, "Our computer was accessed while XJ-9 was fighting the FEV. The tracing system was brought back on line beforehand and it showed the downloader was a life form."

Nora nodded, "Yes, that was a friend of XJ-9's. He accompanied her on the mission."

He watched the video of the FEV attacking the robot, "Impressive. Our tests showed Project-62 had the capability to pierce twelve feet of concrete and steel."

"He is very talented and the robotic suit was built well."

"Yes, quite well. Our last known contact with Silver Hawk shown the FEV entering an escape pod before it's destruction."

Nora's eyes widened, "This is terrible news! What if it comes to Earth?!"

Raising his hand, he bowed slightly, "Leave that to us. We've had a tracking system implanted into it, which showed it traveling toward the Carthunian Nebula. As for the destruction of our ship, we are indebted to you. I can't even imagine the uproar if your military had responded. They must have been busy with another project of theirs."

"Yes," she said, "Lucky indeed."

He glanced to the screen again and sighed, "Well, I'm sure you understand the problems I have to deal with, so I'll have to cut our talk short. It was good seeing you again."

Nora sighed and leaned toward the keyboard, "As much as I hate to admit it, I feel the same, Arthur."

"Which is why I'm sorry that I have to wipe your hard drive. I have to protect our classified information."

"Wait, no!"

"Until next time," he said with a salute and a grin before the screen began flashing.

The computer began to make a loud, screeching sound before it popped and started emitting a cloud of grey smoke.

Her jaw agape, she slumped backward into her chair, shaking her head in disbelief.

"Arthur, there is no limit to the bounds of hatred I have for you…"

**[][][]**

Sheldon wiped the sweat from his forehead and loaded the last box of tools and parts into the back of the battered and rusty pickup truck. Walking to one of the trees he'd cut down, he picked up the chainsaw from the pile of sawdust.

He turned to walk back to the truck but found himself staring at the large clearing he used as a test site. Amid the craters and patches of burnt grass, he could see the tests of the Silver Shell's rockets, weapons, and exterior strength. He seemed happier back then, even though it felt like yesterday.

Hefting the chainsaw into the bed of the truck, he dropped the key for his workshop into one of the boxes, pausing to look inside.

Between the blueprints and power cells, a small derringer catches his attention. He reaches for it, hesitating before doing so, remembering the day his father gave it to him. That was the day 'Sheldon The Inventor' was born, the small yet simple design of the firearm being the inspiration he needed to get his start.

The pistol felt familiar in his hand, muscle memory causing him to hold it in front of him and look down the sights.

Thumbing the catch, he flipped the barrel upwards and seen that it was still loaded.

Taking a glance around him, he knew no one could hear anything this far from the city. He walked away from the truck and closed the breech while slowly pulling the hammer back. Looking to the target across the way, he disengaged the safety and held it in front of him.

Despite being chambered in the fairly accurate nine-millimeter caliber, the extremely small barrels made the firearm useless for anything but close range, around eight to ten feet being the most effective range.

Looking down the sight again, he heard his dad talking over his shoulder.

"_Okay, keep your hands steady and aim carefully."_

He nodded, inhaling and holding his breath as he was taught.

"_Now, when you're ready, squeeze the trigger, don't pull. It's gonna have one hell of a kick, but don't be nervous."_

He waited until he was sure of his aim.

_Bang!_

The crack of the first shot was nearly deafening and the weapon rose violently from the recoil. Taking a couple deep breaths, he pulled the hammer for the next shot and aimed.

_Bang!_

The second shot wasn't nearly as loud, his ears still ringing from the first shot. Blinking and lowering the weapon gave him a clear sight of the target. Both shots were less than an inch from the center, impressive for a twenty yard shot.

He turned the warm pistol over in his hand, reading the shaky words he'd carved beside the 'James Firearms' logo.

_Never forget what made you._

Shaking his head, Sheldon slid the weapon into his pocket so he wouldn't forget to clean it and hopped into the truck.

The keys already in the ignition, he pushed on the clutch and wiggled the gear shift to be sure it was in neutral. Turning the key resulted in the tired engine cranking, emitting a faint hiss as it did so. Another moment later it started and idled, although it seemed to dislike it.

'Even needing head gaskets and piston rings,' he thought, 'The old girl still pulls her weight.'

"What's the news, Tremorton? This is Kip Kasper on KLON radio with the details on the ChimpZ live concert coming to our fine city! Tickets go on sale-"

Easing onto the gas, the volume of the exhaust increased enough to drown out the radio, a sign of a rotted out muffler, but the truck began to roll forward.

Following the now clear trail through the forest, it wasn't before he reached the house, swinging the large vehicle around the side of the garage to park in the driveway.

The engine shutting itself off brought a sigh from it's driver.

Opening the tailgate and stacking the boxes, he brought the items he'd collect into the garage and set them on the bench.

Now, the clock read 3:48.

"Better tell dad," he said out loud.

He was used to the quiet atmosphere of his house, him usually being the only one home, but today felt different. It seemed there was a tension in the air. Maybe it was him.

His computer already running, he opened his browser and hacked into the military database of Fort Krieger. Changing the title of the main page to 'Fort Awesome' resulted in the desired conclusion.

The page was immediately changed back to normal and a chat window opened.

"Hey, son, what's up?"

He typed his reply, "I need to use the truck to run somewhere."

It took a moment for the reply, "I don't know, you stayed home today, didn't you?"

"Yeah, but I didn't miss anything important. I'm ahead in all my classes except auto shop."

"Well…" was the reply, Sheldon already knowing the answer, "Alright, but be careful. If you get caught driving without a license, your mother will kill you, then she'll turn her sights on me."

"Sure thing."

"We need to get rid of that thing, get something better."

Sheldon smiled, "Nah, dad, the truck's great."

"I'll tell you what," the box said, taking another moment to finish, "If you can talk your teacher into letting you finish It in class, I'll buy the parts if you make a list."

"Sounds great, I'll talk to him tomorrow. Thanks."

"Not a problem, and be careful, there are some LEO's who don't know your old man."

**[][][]**

'Red?' he thought, looking at the colors of the jackets in front of him.

Shaking his head, he picked up a brown one to inspect the needlework on the seams. Deciding it'd have to do, he started the walk to the counter, but stopped to look at a CD display.

ChimpZ: Velvet Sand.

He picked up a copy and looked at the picture of the characters. Being a fan he knew their names by heart.

"Udon, Shiver, Doc-Dimes, and 4-B," he said to himself, remembering how much he loved their first album.

After some quick math he decided he'd have enough to get both and brought it to the register.

"That's a great album," the blue-haired girl shouted over her headphones, "Listening to it now."

"I didn't know it was out already," he said, handing her the money.

"What?"

He shook his head and took the change, "Nothing."

"Alright, have a good one."

He sighed as he ripped the tags from the jacket, always feeling he was on the receiving end of awkward moments.

"Ah, much better."

"Sheldon?"

He turned to see the owner of the voice walk toward him.

"Hey, what brought you here?"

"Hey, Brad," he answered, "Had to get a new jacket."

"That's cool," he said with a nod, "I was supposed to meet Jenny here, but Mrs. Wakeman said she couldn't go."

Jenny. He could have gone without hearing her name.

"That's too bad."

Brad nodded, "Yeah. I came here anyway, but it's been rather dull. Ran into Jaxon, but he was busy, so I'm probably gonna head home."

Sheldon nodded before, the silence becoming unbearable. Brad began to look around, the smile remaining on his face.

"Well, I'm getting ready to leave myself. Do you… need a ride, or something?"

He seemed to think about it, eventually nodding, "Sure, that'd be great. Jenny usually flies me home, and I really don't want to walk."

Sheldon sighed and started walking, ignoring Brad's talk about things him and his friends would do on their days at the mall. He actually began to regret the offer.

"So," Brad said as they started across the lot, "Is… your parents picking us up?"

Sheldon shook his head and opened the door of the truck, "No."

Brad looked it over and followed him in, "You're driving without a license? That's pretty cool, not losery at all!"

Sheldon glanced toward him while he started the engine.

"Well, I didn't mean losery, it's just that I never pictured you doing something like this."

Sheldon rolled his eyes and started driving toward Jenny's, again, tuning out Brad's voice.

While idling at the red light, the engine began to sputter and threatened to stall. Some skillful foot work on the throttle kept it going and they continued once the light changed.

"You really listen to the ChimpZ?" Brad asked, seeing the CD sitting next to him on the seat.

"Yes. I do," Sheldon said, the tone of his voice causing Brad to laugh nervously and stammer.

"W-well, I didn't mean it was a bad thing, it's just, I didn't know you listened to them."

"There's a lot you don't know about me, Brad."

After a couple minutes, Sheldon sighed, "I'm sorry, I've just been wound up a little tight today."

"Does it have anything to do with you and Jenny being absent today?" Brad asked, his expression showing he was genuinely worried.

"Sort of."

Sheldon swung the large vehicle to the curb and shifted to neutral.

Brad unbuckled his seatbelt, "I won't press too much into it, but if you need to tell someone, I'll listen."

"Thanks, I might take you up on that sometime," he said, not really meaning it.

"Of course. You and Jenny are my amigos."

That name again…

"Thanks for the ride."

Waving, he moved to shift into drive when he noticed the form of Mrs. Wakeman walking across her lawn.

"Hello, Sheldon. I though that was you."

He nodded and let the engine die, "Hey, Dr. Wakeman. How are you?"

She shrugged and motioned to the lawn mower, "I've had some computer trouble, so while the OS is installing, I figured I'd finish some yard work."

"I know that feeling," he said, the phrase sounding awkward coming from him.

"Oh, before I forget," she said, reaching into the pocket of her jacket, "Here's you flash drive. It was in the computer when it crashed, so let me or XJ-9 know if it's damaged and I'll replace it."

Shaking his head, "Don't worry about, I got plenty of these things."

"Also, you didn't happen to make any copies of the data you downloaded from the ship, did you? I was reviewing it when the computer malfunctioned."

He nodded slowly, "My laptop was destroyed in the crash, but it should still have the originals on it's hard drive. Did you want another copy? I can run home and pull the drive out."

"No, no, no, it's not that important. Just be careful if you start snooping through it and let me know if you find anything interesting. Or, again, you could tell XJ-9."

**[][][]**

Pulling on his shirt, he walked from the bathroom while drying his hair with a towel. Entering his room, he glanced into the mirror and moved to sit in the computer chair, stopping to look back in the mirror. Not believing his reflection, he leaned closer to get a better look.

He noticed his skin was clearer around his face and it appeared like several freckles were gone.

Moving his head around to get a look at different angles, he eventually shrugged and sat behind the computer, "Must have bought a new kind of shampoo."

He logged in to E-1337 Engineering and clicked on the mailbox.

"_Sh3l-Shock3d, you have several messages," _the computerized voice said.

Being only site updates, he deleted them and went to logout.

The cursor hovered over the link, but he didn't push the button. Instead he opened a new page and decrypted the barrier for the military database. Ignoring the page he changed earlier, he connected to the central server, linking him to every military computer in the country. Searching through three days of notices, he found what he was looking for.

'RE: Blackbird.'

Checking the status bar of his decryption, he clicked the link and read the notice.

"_To all personnel involved in the recently closed project Blackbird, submit all of your data through an encrypted FTP via this mailbox for cataloguing. After doing so, you are required to destroy all physical, digital, and mental knowledge of the project immediately. Thank you for your cooperation. /Colonel Summer."_

Again checking the bar, he clicked the link and began to download all files sent to it. Archiving it and setting a password, he closed all of the military windows and began to read the data aloud.

"The XJ-10 (Codenamed: Blackbird) was the result of many years of updates and modification of {Data Expunged}'s XJ-9 battle droid. With the failure and termination of XJ-9 (Codenamed: Blue J) the XJ-10 project was to be an independent weapons system rather than successor. With the declassification of Blackbird, the project was scrapped due to budget issues and lack of the ability to achieve the specifications of the project's projections. For more info, see the attached blueprints."

Slowly, he moved the mouse to the image of the blueprints for the project, taking an extreme amount of effort to finally click on it.

His eyes widened in disbelief, as he stared at the screen. Without looking away, he opened a drawer beside him and removed the copy he'd made of XJ-9's schematics.

Side by side, the differenced were numerous. Not only the strength, resilience, but even the shape of the design of the model was improved. This could be an unstoppable force in the wrong hands.

And instantly, the desire to create was re-ignited.

**[][][]**

After he finished typing the new post, he clicked the submit button.

"Calling all BadLads, we have work to do."

Almost instantly he received a reply.

Danimal442, "I take it you found what I told you?"

"It was unbelievable. We have to get started right away!"

Danimal442, "Just what I wanted to hear. So, what's the first objective?"

"We need to begin planning. I'm sending you a copy of the schematics."

Jay-Sin22, "What're we building? An army of robots for the zombie apocalypse?"

"No, nothing like that… It's more of a horde and I've already stashed them away."

Jay-Sin22, "I'm not going to be getting any Lithium Cells, am I?"

"I'll send you some tomorrow. For this project, I'm thinking of bringing back the Passive Perpetual Motion system, anyway."

Jay-Sin22, "Hot Digitty Daffodil! I am forever in your debt!"

"Let's start with reviewing the schematics I just sent you."

Danimal442, "So how do we start? Assigning roles or putting together a shopping list? If I know you, half the stuff you're gonna want is hard to get."

"I'll handle the acquisition, you get a list together. We can use surplus for most of it and I have about two metric tons of steel we can use."

Danimal442, "No, you're not destroying the Silver Shell!"

"It's beyond repair. Besides, we can use a lot of the components that's intact."

Danimal442, "I'm going to ignore you telling us what happened to it, but everything's repairable! SS is the first great accomplishment of the BadLads! Besides, I've been working on a new type of metal that would be perfect for this application."

"If you say so."

Jay-Sin22, "Not to interrupt the lover's quarrel, this design is calling for Artificial Intelligence. Last time any of us attempted that was… never. It was pure luck SS turned out as well as he did."

"Not only will we need to code A.I., I'm planning on giving it Sentience. I have a few other revisions I plan to make to the designs, but I can handle all of that."

Xenigma, "I can code A.I. and give it Sentience."

Danimal442, "This is a private post, newb!"

Xenigma, "Aww…"

Jay-Sin22, "Wow, Dan."

Danimal442, "Don't call me that."

"What's your experience?"

Xenigma, "I have eleven years of coding and electrical engineering experience, with four years of apprenticeship in a repair shop."

"Why do you want to help us?"

Xenigma, "I've followed the BadLads work for months. You manage to build the most impressive creations I've ever seen, and even if it's only this once, I want to be a part of it."

Jay-Sin22, "We do need a coder."

Danimal442, "I guess we don't have a choice."

"Alright, I've sent you a copy of the schematics. Let's get planning, team."

Xenigma, "You have my brain."

Danimal442, "And my axe."

Jay-Sin22, "…"

"…"

Xenigma, "…"

Danimal442, "Not cool?"

* * *

Alright, I got a little carried away again. I was rushing because I was planning on this being a short intro, but it got to be pretty long, at least compared to my other work.

So, we've got a little look into the BadLads latest project, and a little more insight into XJ-9's past. I'm not going to lie, I feel Brad was a little out of character, him being one of the few I can't remember a lot about, but his role was served, so I'll leave it at that.

Thanks for reading. I'm off to finish a much needed update on another story.


	2. (2) Out Of Control

Alright, back with the second chapter. Laptop's been overheating since I tried running Titanfall, so I have a fan in front of it while I work and hope it won't do it for the time being.

* * *

**Who Made Who?**

**Part 1: The Death Of What Used To Be**

**Chapter 2: Out Of Control**

"_I feel like I'm spinning out of control  
Try to focus but everything's twisted  
And all along I thought you would be there  
(Thought you would be there)  
To let me know I'm not alone  
But in fact that's exactly what I was"_

- Hoobastank

**[][][]**

"Alright, let's have a quick update."

Danimal442, "I just finished a batch of the metal we'll use, and I have a page and a half so far of materials I'll need."

Jay-Sin22, "I'm about a page or so as well, shouldn't be more than two for what I'll need."

"That's about where I'm at. Work on them when you can, I'm going to go talk to someone after school about getting the dynamos for the joints and clearing a budget."

Xenigma, "The A.I. is finished, just have to change a few things. I had a copy finished to enter in this year's TE, but I missed the deadline. I'll have a demonstration video ready later."

"What's the estimation on it's full completion?"

Xenigma, "That depends on what you want coded. Do you want to go through the hassle of programming the A.I.'s personality to your liking, or do you want it to set itself randomly?"

"How do you code it?"

Xenigma, "About a thousand yes or no questions…"

"Yeah, why don't we let itself do it."

Jay-Sin22, "So what all do you need us to do?"

"There are some components I can't get ahold of here in the states. So, I'll need help locating some of the parts and making them compatible with the control system I plan on using."

Danimal442, "I'm guessing a PNP mainframe like we did with SS?"

"Something like that, but it has to be more compact. This project isn't going to be as large. Also, the military hadn't designed it with the revisions I made, so it'll take a lot of troubleshooting."

Danimal442, "And when are you going to fill us in on them?"

"It's a surprise. You'll see when the prototype is ready."

Danimal442, "That'll be forever! We might be able to help with it!"

"This project won't take long at all. Just like SS, it's mostly assembly and that didn't take more than a week. The only hiccup will be the A.I."

Xenigma, "It'll be very user friendly."

"Then it's only a matter of getting all the parts."

Danimal442, "Speaking of, how's SS coming along?"

"I looked it over again, I still don't think it's worth doing."

Danimal442, "You have to fix it! It's our mascot!"

"I really don't feel like messing with it. I'd have to gut it and redo everything. If I do that, I'll be tempted to update it."

Jay-Sin22, "Come on, he could use an update. What'd you do to him, anyway?"

"Nothing. He just spontaneously combusted."

Jay-Sin22, "Does this have anything to do with that robot girl?"

"… no."

Danimal442, "Sigh."

Jay-Sin22, "Well, I see another hundred issues in the making."

Xenigma, "Issues?"

Danimal442, "The name _Clobber Bot _ring a bell?"

Xenigma, "Yeah…"

Jay-Sin22, "Well, you're working with the creator."

Xenigma, "No way! You wrote _Clobber Bot_?! My favorite issue is Family Fodder!"

Danimal442, "Oddly enough, it started as a way to fund the production of the Silver Shell. He's got, like, three series in storage."

"Probably going to have to release those to repair the Shell…"

Xenigma, "So, the Armored Android is modeled after the Silver Shell?"

"Sort of."

Jay-Sin22, "Hate to break up the fan club, but I gotta log for the day. I'll work on getting everything together."

{_Jay-Sin22 has logged off_}

Danimal442, "Yeah, same for me. You just worry about the Silver Shell, we'll handle the rest."

{_Danimal442 has logged off_}

Xenigma, "I'm so gonna stalk you now."

{_Xenigma has logged off_}

**[][][]**

The room was dark, so much so that were it not for the dim red lights of the computers she would have believed her eyes were still closed.

After finding her night vision was disabled, she began to worry.

"Alright Jenny," she said quietly, "No need to panic, you're just in a dark room, nothing you can't handle."

She tried to move one of her legs, but found herself unable to. No matter how hard she tried, It didn't respond.

Fear slowly creeping it's way into her head, she moved her arm and tried to feel for any damage to her body that would cause her legs to malfunction. Across the room, the sound of something scraping reached her, making her freeze in terror. Soon after she stopped moving her arm, the noise went away, causing her to wait a moment before she tried again.

This time, the sound of various objects and glass jars crashing to the floor reached her along with the chilling realization that her body was no longer attached to her head.

The panic began to set in, the helplessness clouding her mind, keeping her from focusing on the surroundings to formulate a plot.

Just before her processors overloaded, the lights kicked on and blinded her until her eyes began to adjust to the light.

Footsteps and the squeaking of a wheeled cart began to echo across the room, a faint, feminine voice barely audible over them, as if it's owner were talking to herself. The voice began to move closer and closer until it seemed to be a row away before the cart stopped, the owner sighing loudly.

"Well, let's see how the installation's going."

'That voice,' she thought, confused as to where she's heard it before.

The owner walked into view, stopping at a computer desk to turn on the monitor and read the display for a moment. After hitting a button on the keyboard, the computer emitted a faint beep and she nodded in satisfaction.

Glancing in her direction, the woman blinked.

"XJ-9, you're awake?"

Slowly, her mind began to work out who she was, suddenly remembering the woman was her mother.

"Mom? What's going on?"

She walked to the machine her head was attached to and crouched to get a better look, "You don't remember? Maybe the crash caused more damage than I thought."

"Crash?!" she shouted, "What cra-"

She stopped, the foggy memory becoming clearer until the event replayed itself. She remembered the fight with the experiment, the strange weapon it used, and even the crash as they re-entered the Earth's atmosphere.

Nora sighed, "That whole mission was trouble from the beginning. I never should have let you two leave."

"Two? Wasn't it just me that went?"

"Your memory must be corrupted. You and a classmate, Sheldon, went to destroy the space ship. Your body was too damaged to survive re-entry, so he shielded you from the impact with his own robot."

"Sheldon?"

Nora nodded, "Anyway, the machines are repairing your body, and I'm working on restore your default settings from a backup. That should fix your loss of memory."

Jenny blinked and looked to where her arms sat on the table across the room. Following her gaze, Nora nodded.

"I see you tried to move your arms. I had your legs disabled from your control while I worked on fixing your arms. I didn't think you'd reboot this quickly, so I neglected to shut them off."

"I'm a robot?"

The concern shown on her mother's face, causing her to walk to the computer to keep from worrying her, "Yes, dear. A very well built robot, something like this will be nothing for you to overcome."

"And… Sheldon? Who's that?"

Nora contemplated that question, wondering the reality of the real answer, "He is a human, like myself. He is a classmate of yours, though I wonder how he's remained only that after all this time. He really is a nice person, you should be nicer to him."

She could tell her daughter was struggling to remember even the slightest bit of herself before the accident, and it pained her to know there was nothing she could do until the reinstall disc was written. Instead, she looked to the cart she had wheeled down to the lab.

"Oh, that's right," she began, walking to short distance to wheel the cart into view of the disembodied head of her daughter.

"This is your prototype body from when you were younger."

Jenny struggled to turn and get a better look, but the machine she was attached to kept her from moving.

"It's nothing compared to your current body, but it'll get you mobile for the time being."

"I… don't remember it."

"That's fine dear," Nora said as she shut off the machine and took her head from the base, "I doubt you'd remember it if your memory was intact."

She pulled the torso upward and connected it to Jenny's head, sighing out of relief as the old power cells engaged and began to hum.

"Your drivers should still be installed on your mainframe, so go ahead and try to stand."

**[][][]**

Sheldon stood looking at the Silver Shell, really not wanting to go through the hassle of repairing it but still not wanting to see it dismantled.

'I have to get to school,' he told himself, feeling his heart beat start to increase, 'I'm just going to grab my backpack.'

Using a hammer he took from the wall, he broke the spot welds he used to temporarily attach the hatch back onto the frame. Jumping back as the heavy door clattered to the floor, he sighed and reached in to pull his pack from the back of the chair. Turning to leave, something tumbled onto the ground at his feet.

Blinking, he looked down at the small box, remembering the Anti-Matter shield was left beside his backpack. Picking up the device, he turned it over in his hands a few times before looking at his watch.

"Late," he said as he tucked it into his backpack and rushed from the garage to where he had left the truck running in the driveway.

Tossing his backpack into the passenger seat, he climbed behind the wheel and pulled the door closed. Pulling the gearshift into reverse, the engine protested as he released the clutch and waited for the transmission to grab.

Lurching backwards, he rolled into the street and swung into first.

He let go of the clutch too soon, causing the truck to lurch forward and stall. Thankful he lived far enough from school that he didn't embarrass himself, he pushed the clutch in and turned the key. The tired motor obeyed and sputtered into life, the misfiring cylinders making themselves known.

He began rolling down the road, shifting smoothly into second and eventually third, keeping an eye on his speed. The rest of the drive passed without any conflict and he pulled into the parking lot earlier than he usually did when he'd take his rocket skates.

Parking in a spot he hoped was far enough from the entrance, he pulled the keys from the ignition and reached toward his backpack when he lost control of his arm.

His mind replayed the incident with Jenny and he felt his chest begin to tighten.

"_No, I'd rather burn than take your help!"_

His hands gripped the steering wheel while his breathing increased. He began to scream while he tugged on the steering wheel, almost ripping it loose from the steering column. Images of her laughing at him began to flood his vision, causing him to pull harder.

When the wheel refused to break free, he turned to swing his fists against the dashboard, the hard plastic slowly give way to his barrage. The cover over the instrument panel shattered and embedded a jagged piece of plastic into his hand. The adrenaline fueling his rage kept him from noticing the wound, but it couldn't last forever.

Breathing heavily, he calmed down enough to see the damage he'd caused.

The speedometer was destroyed, the black backing plate nearly non-existent along with the orange needle. A large crack ran along the dashboard and caused the two separated pieces to lift away from their usual spot.

Taking deep breaths, he began to regain his composure and notice the sharp pain in his hands. The sudden outburst haunted him, the memory of it causing him to shiver as he quickly grabbed his backpack and close the door of the truck. He shoved his hands into his pockets to keep from drawing attention to himself as he entered the school and walked into the nearest bathroom.

As he washed his hands and wrapped them with paper towels, he imagined himself standing in the doorway as he did everyday, waiting for Jenny to walk to her locker and begin his usual routine. Today, however, he shook his head and finished wrapping his hands, wondering how he could go on without the one he loves.

The first warning bell rang and he stepped out of the bathroom, wondering what he'll do with his free time.

* * *

Little shorter than I wanted it, but I think the point got across. Got a little preoccupied with the new South Park game and had to force myself to quit it and finish this chapter.

So, our lovesick Sheldon has a breakdown, and Jenny lost some of her memory. And what of this Blackbird project?

We'll have to wait and see.

Also, I made a forum on here to discuss some upcoming stories and to get help when I run into any issues with them, but I'm unable to find it in the forum section, so I'll mess with it and see if I can figure it out.

Thanks for reading.


	3. (3) My Jekyll Doesn't Hide

Alright, chapter three.

Most of the action will take place in the second part, but I'm going to fit a couple fights I have planned into this part so it isn't so… blah.

Anyway, you're not here to listen to me ramble, so let's get started.

[][][]

**Who Made Who?**

**Part 1: The Death Of What Used To Be**

**Chapter 3: My Jekyll Doesn't Hide**

_"Condemned To Violence, Arrested By Pain  
Inside The Soul Lies A Man Insane  
Conceived In Anger, Addicted To Hate  
The Mutant Child Of A Twisted State_

_Beware The Contradiction_  
_Beneath The Crimson Void_  
_'Cos In The World Of Fiction_  
_My Jekyll Doesn't Hide"_

- Ozzy Osbourne

**[][][]**

Sheldon stared at the closed locker, no closer to opening it than he was several minutes ago.

They were getting better, he'll give them that. This time there was less evidence that someone had opened the locker before him. The small piece of tape he left in place at the end of everyday was ripped and the tumbler for the lock had been moved.

He entered the combination and hesitated before raising the handle, curious to what prank was awaiting him today.

"Hey, Sheldon, how's it going?"

Without looking away, he shrugged, "Trying to figure out what's in store for me today."

Knowing all too well what he meant, Brad instinctively took several steps back. Sheldon took a deep breath and raised the handle.

'So far, so good,' he thought.

Quickly swinging the door open, he slid to the side as a large mound of mud tumbled onto the floor, an avalanche of worms following shortly behind.

With no explosions or similar dangers, Brad approached cautiously and crouched to investigate.

"Worms?"

Sheldon nodded, "They must be losing interest. I can deal with worms."

"What do you wanna bet it was Don Prima?" Brad asked, wiping his hands on his pants while he rose back to his feet.

"Too messy for him. Probably Richard or Brent, under his orders."

"Is it always worms?"

"More often than not," he answered.

Sheldon adjusted his footing and gently slid the pile of mud and wriggly worms aside while they attempted to coil themselves around one of his laces.

"That's rough, even for them," Brad said, crossing his arms, "How're your books?"

Not having the foresight to fill his books with the mud, the covers had endured most of the abuse. Nothing some elbow grease and soap couldn't get rid of.

"The books should be fine, I'll just take off the covers for now. First class is P.E., so all I'll need is my gym bag."

As he went to grab the bag, a loud vibration came from the open pouch. Looking at each other out of confusion, they both shrugged. Sheldon slowly reached in and carefully lifted the flap. A large snake lunged through the opening, causing him to stumble backwards and shout as he fell. Everyone in the hall turned and looked toward them.

Instantly he jumped to his feet and slammed the locker closed, putting his back to the door and sliding down it.

Brad had backed to the opposite side of the hall and kept his arms held in front of him.

"Did you happen to see what color it was?" Sheldon asked between breaths.

Unable to speak, Brad shook his head.

With a heavy sigh, he stood and put in his combination again. Taking another deep breath, he quickly opened the door and grabbed the snake in mid strike.

"Impressive reflexes, hombre."

Sheldon lifted the snake from the bag and looked it over, starting with it's tail. The snake had began to vibrate it's tail once it felt threatened and continued doing so. The red, black, and white colors repeated themselves over it's entire body and became thinner the closer it came to the tail.

"Is that thing poisonous?" Brad asked.

"Red on black, friend of Jack," Sheldon said as he loosened his grip, "Red on yellow, kill a fellow."

Brad looked over the colors and nodded, "So, it's not poisonous?"

"Yeah, it's a harmless King snake. They must have gotten him confused with a Coral snake."

"That's borderline murder…"

"As always," he said as he set it down and let it slither away, "They don't think ahead."

Brad leaned back and watched it continue into the girl's bathroom, "You're just going to let it go?"

Sheldon shrugged and further inspected the bag, "Why should I be the only one having an interesting morning?"

Muffled screams came from the bathroom as it's inhabitants began running out, shouting that a monster was inside.

"I think we should go."

Sheldon closed his locker and nodded, "Good idea."

Doing their best to not attract the attention of the group that began to huddle around the doorway, they turned down the first hall they came to and kept going.

"So, have you seen Jenny yet?"

Sheldon shook his head, "Nope."

"That's two days in a row," Brad said, "I wonder what's wrong."

"It's probably nothing."

"No, Jenny never misses more than one day at a time. I'm gonna ask Ms. Wakeman what's up. You should come with so I don't have my soul taken away..."

"Can't," he answered, doing his best to keep the tone of his voice level, "I've got some errands to run after school."

**[][][]**

The drone arrived in roughly the same condition. Give or take a few missing parts.

The docking protocol was almost finished, a handful of uninformed workers making the simple procedure take much longer than needed.

"Alright, you can get off now."

Standing to it's full height, it ducked through the airlock of the drone, it's size making the ship creak as it dropped to the floor of the hangar. The guards had already slung their rifles from their shoulders and stepped back while it reached into the cockpit, never taking it's yellow eyes from them.

After a moment of fumbling through the interior, it grasped the weapon and pulled it through the opening.

They quickly raised their rifles and began to shout orders.

"Disarm, immediately!"

A blink was the reply.

The commanding officer stepped forward and flipped a switch on the side of his rifle, causing it to make a whirring noise.

"This is your final warning!"

Gripping the weapon, it's eyes began to change. The yellow iris appeared to glow as the sclera darkened to a pitch black. Thin lines began to appear, starting below the eyes and continuing under it's jumpsuit, becoming visible on the forearms and hands.

A look of terror crept over them as they turned to their commanding officer. Unable to speak, he began to fire, the rest of the squad following.

The beams hit their mark, doing little more than annoy the beast at which they fired. Raising it's own weapon, it fired, the pulses hitting their targets. Each shot that landed on the guards sent them flying, tumbling backwards until they met the resistance of the steel wall behind them.

With the rest of his men defeated so easily, his resolve crumbled, making his knees tremble and ultimately give way. His rifle tumbled out of his grip and landed on the floor with a loud thud.

Accepting his defeat, he did little more than stare up at the hulking form of his impending doom.

The sound of the blast doors sliding open caught their attention and a group of higher ranked soldiers walked in, running toward them.

The creature spun and leveled it's weapon, causing them to halt.

Stepping forward the leader began to reach inside her trench coat. Now it raised the rifle, signaling for her to stop.

Raising her left hand, she pulled a device from an interior pocket and quickly scrolled through it until she found what she was looking for.

"Tidas, I presume," she said as she extended the device, "We are here to escort you-"

She paused as it took the device and tossed it, the shattering sound echoing in the large, empty room.

"To Queen Vexus," she continued, "If you'll lower your weapon and come peacefully, we will lead you to her."

After looking over the group awaiting it's decision, Tidas exhaled, the color draining from it's eyes until back to the original. The lines began to dissolve and it slung the large weapon onto it's shoulder and started to the doorway.

Looking from her destroyed communicator to the traumatized guard, she adjusted her cap and turned to follow.

**[][][]**

Just when it seemed the day couldn't get any worse, it did.

Granted it was the same torture he was accustomed to, but today was different. It seemed to bother him more than it would have any other day.

But now he was sitting at his usual lunch table, his tray pushed aside, the Anti-Matter shield disassembled and awaiting reassembly.

'I don't know what I was thinking,' he thought, setting aside the rather large box that originally contained it while dropping the device's internals into an obsolete and somewhat bulky mp3 player he'd had in wrist case at the bottom of his locker.

In order to fit it he had to create a new circuit board roughly the size of the power cell he'd used, but it was still compact enough to fit together.

"Now to solder the connections in," he said as he picked up his cold heat soldering iron and slid the rest of the parts and tools into his bag.

Father away, but not far enough, Don Prima was having a delightful conversation with another of the school's outcasts.

"So, Daisy was it?" he began, "I am not pleased. Can you guess why that is?"

She nervously shook her head, the glasses she wore taking a moment more to stop, "N-no, I mean, I haven't a clue."

He sighed, "Here I am, sitting at the second best table, while I have to look across the room and see the nerd brigade hogging the best one for themselves."

"It's not fair," a dark haired boy beside him said, "Almost like you forgot your place."

"Thank you, Brent, I was just getting to that."

"We were here first, so," Daisy said, her wavering voice doing little to intimidate her targets.

"I was afraid of that," Don said with a sigh.

Tiff began to rise from the table, causing Daisy started to step back, "You want me to clobber her, Don?"

Britt pulled her cousin back to the table, "Let us not meddle with the actions of the less civilized."

Don nodded, "Right you are. So, Brent, why don't you go reclaim our table and make an example?"

The dark haired boy nodded and stood from the table, sights set on Daisy.

"W-why d-d-don't you just take the table?" Daisy asked, still backing away, "We can move if you w-want it that bad!"

Brent shook his head and swung his fist back, "It's a little late for that."

Daisy covered her face as he came towards her.

Sheldon quickly moved between them and held his hand out.

Brent's jaw dropped as his fist stopped and became halted in a blue force field that emanated from his wrist. Sheldon glared back at him through the shield that held the attacker still, his face tinted by the blue color.

The entire table Brent had just left stared in confusion at the sight they were witnessing. Daisy peeked through her hands and witnessed the same sight everyone in the lunch room had.

The battery having been depleted, the shield disappeared, releasing the dumbstruck attacker to stumble forward.

Sheldon reeled backwards and swung as hard as he could.

**[][][]**

Nora sighed and leaned back in her chair, the frustration slowly building up inside her.

All of XJ-9's backup drivers were mixed up with thousands of her personal files when the computer was restored. She had mistakenly reset the computer to a time before she catalogued all of the drivers in the XJ partition, so they were renamed and sorted in with the entire contents of her drive.

An hour of searching had proved fruitless with less than a percent of the files organized.

She rubbed her tired eyes, the hour of staring at a computer screen affecting her more than it should have, that being a large part of her work.

The sound of clanking on the laboratory floor caused her to spin in the chair, "How's the body treating you?"

Jenny blinked and looked it over in the mirror, "It's not so bad."

Instead of the light blue and silver her previous body was, this one was grey. The rockets, lasers, and all other weapon systems were either disabled or not installed, along with several amenities such as night vision and turbine travel.

It seemed well built and pretty sturdy, but none of it helped her memory return.

"I'm glad I held onto the old thing," she said while resuming her search, "Nonetheless, it's only temporary. As soon as your old body is finished we'll switch you back."

She continued looking into the mirror. Her head was the first part repaired, her pigtails and face standing out amongst the dull body. She reached out to touch the mirror, but instead focused on her metal arm.

"How long until it's finished?"

She shrugged, "It shouldn't be more than a day or so, I have the machines running at double efficiency."

"And what about my memory?"

She paused for a moment, then continued searching, "That's… another problem. Your systems were set to wirelessly back up your files to my computer, but I'm having trouble finding it."

"When you find it, will reinstalling it make me remember the accident?"

She nodded, "With the damage done to your body in the crash, I had no idea the amount of data that had been corrupted. So, I thought it would be best to do a complete restoration. Everything would be reinstalled and you'd even remember things that you'd long since forgotten."

"What do I do until then?" she asked, growing tired of her reflection.

"Just wait, I'll find them soon enough. The world can take care of itself until then."

**[][][]**

Another one finished, pretty good cliffhangers on the first couple story-archs, so we'll call it a day here.

Gonna move on to a few older stories, so I'll work on the next chapter when I get a chance.

Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed.


End file.
